Lately I am thinking a lot about how I or anyone can travel responsible and sustainable. Not only during a pandemic, even that is on my mind a lot, too, but in general. Today I want to share some thoughts with you about that topic.
Traveling wasn’t a matter of course for me for a long time. This had several reasons but I think one of the biggest impact was that in my family traveling was always luxury. We weren’t poor but my mum liked to keep the money together and my dad didn’t liked to travel and so we went in a family vacation together only once. They found other possibilities to give me a vacation but when I moved out and earned my first money, traveling kept its status as luxury good. But over the years I found out how to travel on a low-budget, started to earn more money and changed my priorities towards traveling. But then I had to learn, that traveling, especially flying, is not only expensive for my wallet but also for the wallet of the environment and people living at the destination. This became most obvious in the debate about environmental protection in the last year and with the spreading of COVID-19 and its consequences. That’s why I decided to be more responsible in my future traveling. I am aware that traveling itself will never be fully sustainable and the only chance to avoid the negative side-effects completely is staying home, but I feel so much more at peace with myself while traveling, that I don’t want to stop.
But where to begin?
Fortunately I already do some things which are sustainable:
- I avoid flying when possible. When I find a good and affordable connection with a train or bus, I use this. Unfortunately there aren’t that much night trains as before but especially when the journey is long, I recommend to look for that.
- When I have to fly I pay the CO2 commission and try to reduce my belongings as much as possible. Not only that I have to carry around my stuff and more weight often means more money but like my own weight it has an impact on the consumption. Of course, when you fly only once a year or even less you have the feeling, that your suitcase won’t make a lot of difference but when a lot of people try this it will make a difference.
- I walk a lot during my vacations. Once I had a rental car and made a road trip to Spain, but it was small and didn’t needed much sprit. I actually wanted to share the car with someone else, but he changed his plans and I ended up alone. When I had the chance to stay on a place some days I took it and during that period I didn’t used the car either.
- When it comes to food, I prefer local products and buying in the supermarket then using the big international chains. Often local food is cheaper and better and it actually help the people living there. Same for buying stuff in general.
- I normally try to reduce waste as much as possible. And when I can’t avoid it, I take it with me till I find a waste bin.
- In general I try to use the same strategies like at home, to save resources, like putting of lights when I don’t need them, separate waste, re-use the same cup and fill water in my bottle instead of buying plastic bottles on the way (when the water at your destination is not safe for drinking, buy huge bottles or a canister and fill into your bottle what you need) etc. Also I use the same towel several times, check in the hostel kitchen the leftovers and try to buy only what I really need and what I can finish in the next days. When I have leftovers I put them into the shelf for leftovers or ask other travelers if they need them.
- Digital maps and guides. Instead of buying paper products I only need for one trip I use digital maps. I prefer especially the ones where I can mark the spots I like to go to.
- I don’t visit zoos or animal shows because of the cruel industry behind it and treat animals I met on my journeys with respect. Also I wouldn’t think about ripping of a flower or a branch just because it looks nice.
But there are still things I can improve. I still struggle with giving tips, which I personally find awful. Mostly I don’t know how to articulate it or even worse I forget it because I am confused with the customs of paying in a different country. Do I have to put the money on the plate they bring and then wait till they come back? Do I just leave money and go? But what if I don’t have the right amount in bills? How do I do it with credit cards? In Germany I just tell them when giving the money but somehow when I am somewhere else I am totally overwhelmed of the situation. Please, when you can give me an advice here, help me. Also I want to get in contact with locals. I am already good in getting into contact with other travelers, but I think it is important to get in contact with the people who live there. To learn from each other. So that my travel is not only a come, look and go back, but make a difference. Don’t forget, the title of the blog is Travel, Learn, Share, Repeat for a reason. Also I never participated in voluntary work when I was traveling, like collecting waste from the beaches or helping out in a shelter or community center. I would like to do something like that in my next travels. Do you have more ideas for that? Or want to share your experience doing so? Sent me an E-Mail or write a comment with your idea. 🙂
That are my first ideas how to improve my own traveling. But I am curious what else is possible and will research more about that topic, so I’ll be able to keep talking about that in my future post. When I tell you stories about former travels, I will highlight what I think was responsible and what I still need to improve. When I plan new trips and I also will tell you which decision I see as improvements to get a more responsible traveller. But I am also would like to interview people about that topic, so when you like to talk about it, let me know. 😉
Travel, learn, share, repeat... 